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Turkish farmers ‘fathered the Irish’

The majority of Irish men are descended from farmers who came to the country 6,000 years ago, not from an older line of hunter-gatherers as previously believed, a study has found.

Researchers at Britain's University of Leicester have discovered that 85% of Irish males are descendants of farmers who migrated to the country from Turkey and surrounding Mediterranean areas, bringing agriculture with them.

The information contradicts previous theories that suggested the primary genetic legacy of Irish males is from hunter-gatherers who survived in Spain and Portugal during the last Ice Age.

The researchers also found a different pattern in female genetic material, suggesting the farmers, when they arrived in Ireland, appealed to women more than the indigenous hunter-gatherers.

Patricia Balaresque, first author of the study, said: "Most maternal genetic lineages seem to descend from hunter-gatherers. To us, this suggests a reproductive advantage for farming males over indigenous hunter-gatherer males during